Maplewood pushing state to legalize same-sex marriages

MAPLEWOOD -- One of the first towns to embrace the state's civil union and domestic partnership laws is now pushing to expand the rights for same-sex couples they established.

In what is thought to be a first among New Jersey municipalities, the Maplewood Township Committee is expected to adopt a resolution Tuesday evening calling on state legislators to sanction same-sex marriage.

Mayor Victor DeLuca said he hoped the resolution could serve as a catalyst for legislators' passage of a same-sex marriage bill before the year's end.

"I think it's incumbent upon people like us who believe that this is a matter of civil rights and equal rights to say something about it," he said. "I'm actually hoping this is the beginning of 560 municipalities in the state considering this."

DeLuca said all four of his township committee colleagues indicated they supported the resolution.

"I think we just need to take a position now," said DeLuca, adding that the issue would surface during the governor's race. "It's going to happen. We just think it should happen now that it shouldn't take years."

Tony Kurdzuk/TheStar-LedgerSteven Goldstein (left), chairman of Garden State Equality and a member of the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission, watches Gov. Jon Corzine sign the state's civil unions bill into law at the Trenton War Memorial in December 2006.

New Jersey is among a handful of other states and Washington, D.C., with civil union laws. Following passage of those laws in 2004, more than 250 couples registered their partnerships in Maplewood at a township-sponsored ceremony.

But to many gay-rights advocates those statutes, which fall short of protections offered by marriage, are not sufficient.

"Separate but equal is never truly equal," said Stephen Mershon, a township resident and longtime supporter of marriage rights for same-sex couples. "Telling gay people that ... your love is not as good as heterosexual love sends a terrible message to gay people and their kids whose parents are not allowed to marry."

He said the township's resolution is more than symbolic.

"It shows that local communities recognize they have citizens who are being affected by the absence of the marriage equality bill," Mershon said. "It's very important to the people in this town to have the protections that marriage affords."

Assemblywoman Mila M. Jasey (D-South Orange) who represents Maplewood and is a primary sponsor of the Assembly's same-sex marriage bill, said she is hopeful it will be voted on this year.

"I think we have a very good chance of passing it," said Jasey.

But, she said, since political winds are quick to change, Maplewood's resolution could shore up support for the bill.

"I think that if Maplewood can take the lead on that and is able to get other municipalities to express a positive support for the bill, that would be helpful because it would help legislators understand how widespread support is," she said.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll released in April showed that New Jersey residents, by a 49 to 43 percent margin, support laws allowing same-sex couples to marry.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he would sign a bill legalizing same-sex marriage should it reach his desk. The Republican nominee for governor, Christopher Christie, says he would not.

The Maplewood resolution will be sent to all state lawmakers, the New Jersey League of Municipalities and the New Jersey Conference of Mayors.

Mershon said that if gay people can marry in Iowa, it is proof of a profound and important change in Americans' attitudes toward the issue.

"The heartland of America even supports this," he said. "There are many reasons this should pass, and the only reason it's not passed yet is longstanding prejudice that people are having trouble getting over."